Tears of an Assassin
by jcover-ja
Summary: An alternate ending to series 3 with katara's death. Years later Aang finds him self torn between the new love in his life and a past ghost
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Rage

From the Gates of Azulon a path of char and rubble was being created towards Ozai's castle from the epic battle that has been taking place between Aang and Ozai.

"Don't try to move Zuko, your badly hurt" Katara says to him while rushing to his side. She looks at the wound and immediately starts to try and heal it but she is riddle with frustration in doing so. "It's a deep wound Zuko and I don't think I can completely heal it but at least it not life threatening now." Her comments went unnoticed because Zuko had already slipped into unconsciousness during the heal exercise.

In a sudden flash of light, the center of the courtyard is light up by a large of gagged shrapnel are hurled across the area crippling anything they collide with except from the thick ice wall that Katara had just quickly put for protection. Azula in her chained submissive position could do very little against the shrapnel and sustains several brutal hits to the head.

To katara's amazement she sees an unresponsive Anag lying in the epicenter the explosion destruction but not far off she also sees Ozai hovering in the sky on top of two dagger shaped flames from each of his foot. In front of him was a small glowing sphere that grew brighter with each passing of Ozais hand around. It was clear that he hadn't notice her and Katara took this opportunity to strike with an abundance of pointed ice darts at him while she creates a wave of water and ice from the drain that she tries to surf the towards Aang.

Unfortunately Katara's swift action was glimised in the corner of Ozia's eye, just giving him enough time to react. He fires off the sphere in a concentrated narrow beam of swirling heat energy, not towards Aang but down the center of Katar's attack, vaporizing it to steam and continue straight down to her. If it wasn't for the fact that she had already began to surf her way to Aang, Ozia's shot would not have just barely missed her but the resultant impact to the ground creates an explosion that she had no way of escaping from. Her screams penetrate the foul scent of destruction that saturated the air to wake Aang up from his the daze that he was in.

It was as if time had slowed down just long enough for Aang to take in every gory detail of katara's body flailing in the air towards him. He tries to scrabble to catch her but his body felt as if it was moving through a heavy mood and he falls short in reaching her. Katara hits the ground hard and slide up to Aang.

Ozia finally takes full notice of his surrounds, especially Azula's state, who was lying motionlessly and bleeding from the head be the storm drains. He hovers over to lands by her side for a closer inspection and finds her just barely breathing. With a disgusted look of disappointment he turns away from her and face Aang who was now kneeling over Katara's motionless, blood drenched body.

"You may be the Avatar but you're still just a child," said Ozai as he regained his composure. "Look at your friend and tell me how it feels to see your own faith?"

He began to slowly but very confidently walk towards them and even though he had a good distance to cross as he was in no rush as he knew what was about to happen.

"I can feel the presence of Sozin's comet getting stronger in me and your pathetic wretched attempt to defeat me is failing." Ozai lets out a small chucle followed by a strong laugh,.

Over whelmed from seeing Katara's body in such a state, Aang had been ignoring him for most of the time and was fully fixated on Katara. Tears of pain, sorrow and most importantly, love ran down Aang's face, tears that fuel a sensation of hate, revenge and a blind rage within him.

"I'LL KILL YOU!" Aang roars, and charges head on at Ozai.

A small smirk appeared on Ozai's face as he took stance,

"Show me what you got little boy." he calmly said.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: The Comet

The night sky was light up with devastating flash of destruction, the earth shook and quivered as large amounts of it was ripped from the ruins of the palace and the winds howled and scream like a thousand souls crying out and yet Aang's attacks could not hit Ozai. To Aang it was as if Ozai could read his mind and he would just simply step aside out of the way. This made Aang even more furious, making him attack even stronger. The truth was that Aang was suffering from tunnel vision and couldn't see that Ozai was just toying with him, making him waste his time before the peak power of the comet's arrival.

Finally gasping for air and filled with frustration, Aang stood there in front of Ozai who now appeared to loom over him.

"You stupid boy behold upon my power now" he said as he pointed the comet. "I could have killed you ages ago just as I killed your little girlfriend, but I wanted to show you just how powerful I will become."

On seeing the comet Aang falls helplessly to his knees, tears had stopped running down his face, as there was no more there to cry any more.

"I've failed." Aang whispered softly.

"You fool! You never had a chance from the beginning and now I shall finish this once and for all."

Ozai points his finger at Aang's head; the power of the comet was radiating energy into him, causing his is eyes to glow and an orange aura around his figure that flicked off him like a flame. Aang tried to do one last move but the sense of hopelessness just made him fall forward on to has hands, why should he continue now that Katara was gone?

"Good bye Avatar." Ozai said smugly.

As Aang waits for his faith there was a bizarre moment of silence that was broken by a warm, wet spray onto the back of his head. Aang looked up to see Ozai grasping his neck trying to hold back the blood that was rushing from it. Katara had regained just enough consciousness to get up and water bend a small pool of her own blood to grazed Ozai's neck.

There wasn't a moment to lose and seeing that Katara wasn't really dead gave Aang a renewed burst of energy and hope and with a swift flick of his hand Aang rock bended Ozai's feet into the ground. He then sprung up and looked him straight in the eyes.

"Your Right, this is the ends" Aang comments followed be the crushing sound of Ozai's body as it's been swallowed by the earth, after which Aang rushes over to Katara's. "I thought you were…" Aang couldn't finish the sentence, as it was still too much of an unpleasant thought. He arrives by her side just in time to catch her in his arms as she collapses. Katara's skin was pale and cold to the touch, her eyes sunken in and her breathing was very shallow. Aang knew she wasn't going to make it if she didn't get help fast, but the nearest healers were at the southern water tribe and Appa couldn't fly from an injury he had gotten earlier.

"I'm not going to lose you!" he said as he clenched her tightly in his arms.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Shock Wave

All eyes were now looking at the heavens above as the comet silently swept by. Its long brilliant tail stretched beyond the horizons as it radiated a bright glow that blanketed the landscape in a warm pale orange tint. There were only two exceptions to this, both Katara and Aang gazed deeply into each other's eyes and both could see their passion, their love and their distress. Aang reached forward and began to gently caress Katara's, cheeks wiping away the soft tears that were running down it.

"Aang…"she pauses as more tears began to run do her face "I love you…"

Aang's heart explodes with passion and he knew he had to do something.

"I have always loved you from the moment my eyes graced your beauty." Aang whispered into her ears. "Hold on tight to me and I shall take you away from this."

At this point Aang finally commits to his ability of fire bending and allows the avatar within him to take in the comet's powerful effects. He feels its warmth reaching deep into his body causing the night dew to steam off him.

"Aang what are you doing?" Katara whispers in her weakened voice.

"Just hold on tight!" he replies as he clenches her tighter to him.

In an instant the remnants of Ozai's castle is once again ravaged by a shock wave of air and fire. The sound shatters across the land as Aang and Katara are propelled straight into the sky followed by a molotov cocktail of air and fire behind them.

"Aang, you're…we're flying!" she screams, for her voice could just be barely heard over the rushing air and roaring fire, as they part through the clouds.

'Aang'

"I'm taking you to the Southern Water Tribe let's just hope we have enough time with the comet."

Aang's face begins to sting as the winds lashes against it, his arms burns from holding Katara up and his body pleads and yearns for him to stop bending but he defies his bodies' calls and bends harder, pushing him faster and higher through the sky.

As they part the heavens Aang just begins to see the tips of the settlement creeping towards them but he also feels the effects of the comet leaving his body. He clenches his teeth and tries to bend even harder but with little effect as they slowly begin to lose speed.

"Come on! Just a little bit more" he hoarsely repeats as Katara's grip slowly begins to loosen.

"Katara we are almost there! Just hold on, hold on please!" He screams at her.

With the settlement only a few hundred feet away the pale glow of the comet's tail vanishes in the horizon behind them and they begin to plummet towards the frigid cold sea, but just at the instance of impact Aang water bends an ice tunnel opening into the heart of the sea with a gentle curve that softly catches their fall. He continues to waterbend while sliding through the newly formed tunnel and redirects the opening of it back to the surface of the sea.

Finally after an extreme amount of bending, an exhausted Avatar and an unconscious water bender slide up to the New Southern Water Tribe.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Echoes

Far beyond the reaches of curious onlookers and the annoying attempts of meddling people, a healing pool shimmers with Katara's body floating motionless in it. The refracting light form the pool's water splashes on to the frozen blue walls of the room producing an aquatic surreal effect while the eerie echo of dripping waters resonates throughout.

Yugoda casually walks into the rooms; her footsteps adding to the echoes, she looks over the five healers who are feverishly try to heal Katara's wounds.

'Yugoda'

"Hitomi come here, I want an update about how things went in the settlement"

A slender young girl strolls in, her hips swaying like a sliver of silk cloth blowing in a crisp morning breeze. Her long jet-black hair flows along, complementing her every move.

'Hitomi'

"This is a lot of trouble we are going through for just one girl. I mean even keep her alive is requiring twenty-four hour healing sessions, plus all the other complications you so lovingly dumped on to me. Do you know how hard it…"

Yugoda abruptly cut in

"Stop pretending as if your not enjoying this, furthermore, do you know who is in the pool? Its Kana's grand daughter, and it seems that fate has blessed her with the same gifts as her grandmother had."

"I'm sorry but I think I was asleep during that part of history class, please do remind me." She looks down, swirling her fingers in the water.

"Why do I bother…" Yugoda mutters and lets out a deep sigh of annoyance. "Kana had the potential to be a great water bender, her powers were just phenomenal and I know this because I've seen it with my own eyes. On a full moon she saved some kid from a herd of savage sea lion by using some form of bending style that gave her control over the animal's body. It was amazing but when I confronted her about it she ran off and that was the last I ever saw her."

"You know of our culture on female bending, she might have thought you were going to squeal on her."

"True, but in actual fact my master at the time wanted to recruit her for our cause, a bender like that would have done us well."

"So what's the deal with sleeping beauty here in the pool now?''

"Well my dear other than the mere fact that she mastered water bending in such a amazingly short time but during the Avatar's last healing session I was able to coerce a lot of information about himself and Katara. When the body is in such a weakened state as he was, the mind become very susceptible."

Hitomi eyes wide with interest and amazement

"Remind not to come to you when I get another paper cut, tell me what you found?"

Yugoda begins to pace around the healing pool her eyes fix on Katara.

"The Avatar can no longer going into his avatar state which means that his control of all four element is limited to that of a grand master and I believe Katara is beyond that when it comes to water bending. I also found out that just like Kana, Katara can control the movement of the living, if I remember correctly the Avatar referred to it as blood bending."

Hitomi cringes and a cold shiver run through her.

"That's freaky, but I now see why we are going through all this, but wouldn't it have made our plans easier if you had gotten rid of the Avatar when you were healing him?"

"You know for a person as cunning and resourceful as your self, you seem to have missed what I just said." Yugoda looks at Hitomi with a stern look. "If I had killed this Avatar he would have just been reborn, but with a working Avatar state he would be more powerful than miss sleeping beauty over there and that would significantly hinder our plans." Yugoda paused to have a brief ponder. "Speaking of plans you still haven't told me how things went at the funeral."

"Like I was saying earlier it was extremely hard to find a corpse that looked like Katara."

Yugoda abruptly spins around to face Hitomi and was about to unleash a world of blasting when Hitomi interjects as she quickly walks back behind her and whispers into her ears.

"But then that's why you recruited me. No one knew the difference, it all went off flawlessly, actually I think this is my best conspiracy, a work of art. I have to say you were right, I did enjoy this." She smiles and twirls away from Yugoda laughing.

"Hitomi what are you trying to do to me!? I'm old, my heart can't take all this unnecessary stress." she rants as she holds her chest. "So everybody _thinks_ Katara is dead, excellent". Yugoda smiled as she looks back again at Katara.

"Shortly we can start her mental retraining and I know a few friends from the Earth Kingdom Dai Li who will come in very handy for that."

Hitomi giggles and start to walk away.

"That's great and all but I have to run now, I hear there's a really good party going on at the generals house. And if by any chance Naomi comes to you about her daughter… tell she ran off with the cabbage man." She chuckles cruelly.

Yugoda looks up and is puzzled for a moment but then begins to giggle.

"Naomi's daughter! Oh well I never did like her, I guess she finally had some use to you after all."


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5: Smack Down

Slouched in a dark corner of the room, away from any form of sunlight, the pungent smell of Aang's body emanates throughout. He hadn't bathed in weeks and his foul locks of dark hair harbored a variety of small creatures, the population was kept in check by the occasional pickings from Momo. Dirty dishes decorated with rotten food and funguses were littered around him. Aang just spent his time staring at Katara's neck pendant that was still kept shimmering from the gentle swipe of his thumb he occasionally did.

"I can't take this any more!" screamed Toph "It's been over two months Aang! You have to get out of that room because your stench is beginning to stink up all of my parents house." She pauses, waiting for an answer from Aang but she is met with silence. "Aang answer me or else!" She screams even louder.

"Leave me alone." Aang mumbled in a long and dawn out voice.

"I know how you feel, we all loved Katara and yes we all miss her but life goes on! You can't spend the rest of yours in there."

"Yes I can, just let me wallow in my own misery."

"That's it Aang, I'm very sorry for what I'm about to do but this is for your own good." Toph said grimly.

Aang looks up with a blank expression on his face and with thunderous explosion Toph earth bends the wall behind Aang and flicks him like a small pebble out an adjacent window. He screams, wildly flailing his arms, as he is sent in a perfect arc from the third floor window into a conveniently placed concrete pool of water. The splash that he made could have been seen from across the other side of the house. Aang was given little time to swim up for air before he was bum rushed by a swarm of servants holding mops, buckets, coarse bristled brooms and an excessive amount of soap. The palace rings with the screams of Aang as they try to clean him.

They were making good progress until he started to fight back. With another huge splash of water servants are sent flying into the air. Toph rock bends a wall up in front of her, which absorbs the impact of one of the broom men.

"So you want to play rough, do ya? SEND IN THE SECOND WAVE!" she shouts as she signals her arm forward.

Aang's jaw dropped to his feet when he sees several legends of servants armed with more soap, more buckets of water and a variety of scrubbing devices. It was as if she had gotten the whole town and the Earth Kingdom army in just to bath him. At the front line was Toph with a set of scrubbing brushes tied to small stone bricks.

"CHARGE" she cries out and the masses roared as they rushed down towards Aang.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6 Sunset

The evening sun greets Toph and Aang sitting on top of the boundary wall of the property basking in the warms of the sun. His fingers squeak as he rubs his freshly shaven head.

"I don't think I have ever been or felt this clean" Aang turns to look at Toph "But I don't think I can say the same for you."

"Well that's because you didn't make it easy for us to bathe you." she says as she tries to get the last bit of dry soapsuds out of her ears. "You kinda turned my front yard into one giant mud hole."

"Yeah I'm sorry about that, but if it's any consolation, all of this showed me how bad I had gotten. Thank you."

"It's cool, don't worry about it, plus all of us had fun doing it." a loud moan of pain bellows out from behind them. Toph grins to hide her slight embarrassment "Well at least I had fun." The mood changes as she rests her hand on his shoulder. "Are you going to be okay?"

"I don't know." Aang looks down at his feet "I keep on thinking about how I could have done things different to save Katara. The worst of those thoughts are about me defeating Ozai quicker if I had been a stronger Avatar."

"You need to stop doing this to yourself, you're the strongest Avatar I know."

Aang looks at Toph with a smile "What are you talking about, I'm the only Avatar you know!"

"Exactly and therefore you're the strongest." They both chuckle about her comment. Toph leans away and gives Aang a soft punch on the arm. "Come on twinkle toes, let's get down from here."

Aang look back at the sun as it traces along the horizon. His facial expression eases back to a steady calm as he drifts into a deep thought. He slow stands to his feet and looks back down on Toph.

"I've got to go."

"Hello, I just said that we should do that already."

"No, I mean I have to move on from here. There are people out there who will need my help and I have to make sure that I'm strong enough to help them."

"Strong enough? You can't continue to beat your self up like that, it's not healthy!"

"Listen, I wasn't strong enough to save Katara and I'm not going to let some thing like that happen again."

"I understand, do what you have to do to get over this, but just tell me where you're going."

Aang looks at the distant mountains that are now sheltering the sun.

"I'm not sure yet. Maybe I'll just follow the wind and see what happens." Aang leaps towards the stables to get Appa. "I'll see you around Toph"

"Just make sure you visit me once in a while!" she yells waving frantically.

"I'm to your left."

"Well I'm blind, deal with it." Both Aang and Toph begin to laugh out loud as they part ways.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7: Sands of Time

Year 1

With the relinquishing of power by the Fire Nation the world is transformed drastically, but not in the way that prince Zuko had imagined. Without the strong oppressive hold by the Fire Nation, a rapid growth occurs within other nation's military fueled by the lingering distrust of the Fire Nation. This distrust spreads like a plauge deep across the nation in to the small, unaffiliated villages and settlements.

Year 3

The three nations, Earth, Fire and Water, are now boasting a powerful military each with the potential to invade the other if the opportunity presented its self. This leads to large scale political bickering and threats of war. In an aim to provide a forum for nations to reconcile their disagreements the Council of the United Elements (CUE) was formed. This helped in subduing the threat of war between the larger nations but it had little effect on the smaller settlements. The small settlements were on a rampage to try and acquire more land and therefore more tax to fund their own military fortifications. National leaders couldn't control this as they didn't want to run the risk of spreading their own armies too thin and becoming more susceptible to an outside invasion.

Year 6

Mercenary work becomes a thriving business between the smaller settlements as it's found to be cheaper to hire someone to fight for you when needed rather that trying to support your own army. Over the past two years one group of mercenaries know as The Coalition rise to be the best in the business as they combine careful political sabotage with precise swift attacks to accomplish their missions. Many of these attacks were carried out by a solitary individual shrouded in black cloth and minimal body amour. Survivors claimed that the person was a worldly spirit because of the inhuman abilities it had, the fact that no matter how skilled you were or how sharp your aim was no one could ever hit it. The individual soon picked up the name The Weeping Spirit for the tears it shed during battle. Rival settlements started bidding simultaneously for the Coalition, creating a unique situation where the Coalition accepted both bids and then settled the disagreement with little collateral damage on both sides.

Year 7

The Coalition changes from being a mercenary group to a political representation as more settlements make mouthy bids to them that guarantee safety and a level of prosperity with in the settlement. This huge success is achievable by the Coalition's abilities of worldwide representatives that can pull in other resources from across the borders, no matter what the nation's status to the other is. This level of political power could no longer be ignored by CUE and the Coalition was invited to become a member of CUE. The Coalition was then renamed to The Association of Nation's Elements (ANE).

Year 8

ANE is able to control majority of the small settlement warfare within each nation, while still allowing the larger nations to maintain their military might. In an aim to lower the risk of war even more ANE begins to set up communication centers in every major city and nation to allow for the easy sharing of information. By achieving this type of sharing the chance of political misunderstanding is completely eliminated and the leader begins to settle down to true peace. Impressed with ANE achievement, the members are invited to become high council advisors to the leaders of the nations.

Year 9

It has now come to the point where nothing happens without the approval of the ANE.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8 Pay Back

A majestic Royal Fire Nation air ship hovers motionless out side of the great Ba Sing Se. Its red, gold and black colors enforces its glare on to the massive stonewalls bellow it. Its five hundred foot shadow covers the ground underneath it.

"I hate all of this waiting. I'm the Fire Nation's emperor. I should not have to be doing this." Zuko snorts a puff of fire. "Ahhhh!!!"

"Zuzu relax, come back here and sit with me." Mai says in a calming bland voice.

"I can't, I'm just too annoyed about this AME policies. If the AME had their way we wouldn't be able to go the bath without their consent!"

"We are just waiting for them to inform the Earth King that we're here and remember, the AME did bring peace to the lands"

"I know, but at what cost to us?" Zuko turns away from her and heads over to the window to take in the panoramic view of the city were he could easily identify the many AME communication centers that dotted it. "At what cost?" he continues to say.

"Babe, we are on vacation don't let all this start to spoil your mood." She takes in a gentle breath and in sexier voice she says "Turn around and see what I've got for you…"

Zuko eye could barely contain the sight and in an instant he was by her side, leaving a trail of smoke from the window.

"I can't believe you got my uncle to make some more jade passion fire lily tea, this stuff takes like three years to brew!"

"I know honey, but you're worth the effort to get it."

Zuko leans over to kiss Mai for her sweet gesture when both of them are sent barreling forward with a horrific crash, spilling the tea everywhere. The ship's sirens sound off as the running feet of the operators are heard in the adjacent hallways.

"MY TEA!!" Zuko erupts in a ball of fire that shatters all the glass windows in the room. "What the hell was that?!" but he was even further amazed to see a Water Tribe airship snuggled up against his own and Sokka swinging across the gap towards him on a chain.

Zuko dives out of way, dodging Sokka's graceful entry though the shattered side windows.

"That's for sending that filthy fifty foot messenger vulture which nearly drowned Suki in its guano! Now we're even." Sokka is taken back by an elegant rich sweet smell. "Hey is that your uncle's special tea I smell?" he asks.

As Zuko climbs back up to his feet he slowly replies to Sokka.

"Yes it is my friend, and also if your stupid little messenger hawk would just stop crapping on my head in the first place when you send it, I wouldn't have had to send the vulture to crap on yours." Zuko continues to brush himself off but then abruptly changes over to a swift spin kick that connects with Sokka's head, sending him spiraling across the room. "That was for spilling uncle's tea! _Now _we are even!"

Mai shakes her head in shame.

"You two will always be the same. Nice to see you too Sokka."

"Hi Mai." he stuttered out as he tries to get the wind back in him.

"Well I hope you two boy are done now, because I've just got word that we have clearance to enter the city. It's been a while since we last saw Toph and we don't want to be late for her twenty first birth day tonight."


End file.
